Arriving in New Orleans, fairly late, on Monday evening, and looking for a quick dinner, Hamburger America sent us to Port of Call, a bar (there’s no other word for it) on Esplanade.   I called to check their hours, afraid they might close at nine and found that they were only open until midnight, since it was Monday.  We were greeted walking in the door by three middle-aged women with 32 ounce “go-cups” looking for a cab.  Oh, New Orleans…. 

We walked through the main bar, which has a very nautical theme, and were led into a room in the back where it was both dark and loud.  There was a party of six women with the volume level of three times that many behind us – this didn’t bode well.

We looked the menu over and found the choices simple – one side of the menu was their drinks, the other their food.  Originally, in 1963, it opened as a steakhouse, but one day the burger sales eclipsed the steak sales.  Burgers are served with baked potatoes – I imagine as a hold over from the steak house days, and possibly because they may not have a fryer.  There were four burgers (hamburger, cheeseburger, mushroom burger and mushroom cheeseburger) and steaks.  My choice was simple – I don’t like mushrooms, so I went with the basic cheeseburger and a potato with butter, cheese and bacon.

The burger is fairly thick – I think so that they could fit a half pound of beef onto the small bun.  The cheese is grated cheddar, although they also had the option of Swiss and something else.  They asked me how I wanted it, but it came out medium well, as I imagine most of them do.  I asked for tomato only, for what it’s worth, but of course I received the lettuce, onion and pickle also. 

Looking back at the entry in the book, George recommends the mushroom cheeseburger.   Good thing that Jo ordered one.

This a much better looking burger than it was and the only reason there is a picture at all is because there is a really good flash on my phone.  It was an okay burger, nothing spectacular, but there’s no need for a repeat trip for me.